In Part 1, I shared three strategies you can use on your phone to stop obsessively checking email and social media. In addition to modifying your phone layout and settings, here are a couple more behaviors you can implement: Put your phone away while you are working: If you don’t want to mess with your apps or notifications…

How do you avoid the repetitive checking of email and social media apps throughout the day? It starts with your phone: Mild: move apps off your home screen Moderate: turn off notifications Extreme: delete apps from your phone I use each of these methods to varying degrees with different email and social media apps. 1. Move email and social media apps off your home screen: The more easily accessible your apps are, the more likely you are…

While I don’t find much pleasure in traditional entertainment like TV, I enjoy podcasts and reading. This works out because they are both “productive” forms of entertainment (keep reading and you’ll see why I put productive in quotes). I listen to podcasts on health, fitness, and business for about an hour each day during my walks and I find them to be both informative and entertaining. …

Many people don’t realize that walking in itself is a good use of time. Everyone should be walking at least a few thousand steps a day for health reasons. But combining walking with activities that help you in other areas makes it even more powerful. Here are three suggestions for productive activities to stack on top of your daily walks: 1. Listen to podcasts or audiobooks while you walk. I listen to over…

The popular early retirement blogger, Mr. Money Mustache, says that you only need 25 to 27 times your total annual expenses to retire[1]. This isn’t as much as people think. The key is to find ways to get your total annual expenses as low as possible without compromising your happiness. This is the ultimate life optimization problem. Mr. Money Mustache has it figured out for himself, but I still have a ways to…

What’s a “healthy” amount of time to spend on activities like playing video games, watching TV, etc.? Here’s my one-sentence answer: You should spend as much time as you feel is appropriate for you to get value from these activities without compromising your life goals. If becoming a professional gamer is a life goal of yours, you should spend more time playing video games. If you find…

If you only had 1 hour in the morning to be productive before work or school, how should you spend it? Here’s my simple 3-step answer: Step 1: List Take 5 minutes to list out the most important things you want to get done during the day. Prioritize them and assess how long…

Tim Ferriss schedules two vacations a year: one in the summer and one at the end of the year. Like most of his behaviors, this is strategic. In a podcast, I remember him saying something along these lines: The anticipation of the vacation provides more joy than the vacation itself. When I have an upcoming vacation, I try harder to make sure everything is “on point” in the days and weeks leading up to it.

At age 14, and maybe even younger, I had a to-do list. I was obsessed with “productivity” and making sure I was doing the right things every day. At the time, I just listed routine things. I had things like “listen to my parents” on my to-do list. Here are a few suggestions on how you can spend your time more effectively…